Word Origin and History for ping-pong

n.

1900, as Ping-Pong, trademark for table tennis equipment (Parker Brothers). Both words are imitative of the sound of the ball hitting a hard surface; from ping + pong (attested from 1823). It had a "phenomenal vogue" in U.S. c.1900-1905.

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v.

1901, from ping-pong (n.). In the figurative sense from 1952. Related: Ping-ponged; ping-ponging.